For us to be ministers of life in the Body and for the Body, we need to know the Body in life; the proofs that we know the Body is that we are unable to be individualistic, we can discern those who are not in the Body, and we recognise the authority of Christ revealed in the order of the Body.
Lord Jesus, save us from our individualism. We open to You. We want to know You as the Body and in the Body. Thank You for making us sons of God and members of the Body of Christ. May we know the Body to such an extent that we cannot be individualistic. May we be full of discernment regarding those who are not in the Body and help them know the Body. May we recognise Christ’s authority revealed in the order of the Body! Amen, Lord, make us ministers of life in the Body and for the Body! Amen!
We need to advance with the Lord in our growth in life and our experience of life. The Lord needs to grow in us, and we need to go on with Him in experiencing Him as life.
This means that we should be more and more aware of the divine life within us, allowing the Lord as life to grow in us, spread in us, flow in us, and also deal with any negative matter.
The Lord is faithful to expose the flesh, the self, and the natural constitution, and He also shines on our natural capabilities.
He strengthens us into our inner man to be strong in spirit, and He makes His home in our heart. Also, He seeks our cooperation by the exercise of our spirit for the flesh to be dealt with, the self to be abandoned, and the natural constitution to be broken so that we may touch the reality of the Body.
In fact, we are in the Body, but in reality, we may not live in the Body. All genuine believers are members of the universal Body of Christ, but not all believers live in the reality of the Body of Christ.
Only when we cooperate with the Lord to deal with the flesh, deny the self, and allow the Lord to break our natural constitution can we actually be in the reality of the Body of Christ.
This is why the Lord Jesus told us that, if we want to follow Him, we need to deny the self, take up our own cross, lose the soul life, and come after Him.
May we be those who not only positively let the Lord infuse us with His precious element through His word but also, on the negative side, are willing to deal with anything that hinders the life of God to grow in us and flow through us.
In this portion we want to see what are some of the proofs that we know the Body, and how can we see or realise that we know the Body in reality.
Proofs that we Know the Body: We are Unable to be Individualistic!
The first proof that we know the Body is that we are unable to be individualistic (1 Cor. 12:18).
Individualism is versus the Body; if we are individualistic, we cannot know the Body, but when we know the Body, we are not individualistic. Knowing the Body is a dealing with individualism; all those who do not know the Body are individualists (see 1 Cor. 12:14-22).
What is individualism? It is a philosophy, a principle that one holds and believes in his kind of independent thought or action. It is the promoting of the individual self.
Sometimes, under the Lord’s arrangement, we may have to do some service by ourselves individually, but this does not mean that we should be individualists.
Individualism is a philosophy, something that we believe in and hold dear to; in our natural self, we love to be individualists.
Before we know the Body, we are individualists and live an individualistic life. Our life, actions, work, and service are all individualistic.
We may appear to be one with the brothers, we may appear to coordinate and fellowship with them, but there’s no real coordination and knitting together.
It is not until we grow deeper in life and know the Body to a certain extent that we see that being a Christian is a corporate matter and that we cannot go on without fellowship in the Body.
We need to grow in life unto maturity, for it is by the growth in life that we can know the Body in a real way. We need to open to the Lord and experience Him as life so that the Body may become a practical matter to us.
The Body needs to be so real to us that we cannot serve alone in the church life (Eph. 4:15-16).
Rather, we feel we need to be a Christian together with others; in the innermost part of our being, we feel we need to be with the Body and in the Body.
If we know the Body, we cannot work or do anything without the coordination of the brothers and sisters.
We are members, and we feel we cannot live without the support of the church.
May we advance with the Lord in our growth in life until we are knit together with the saints and become one Body, no more to be separated.
May the Lord shine on our individualism, and may we condemn it and stay away from it.
May we be those who have a true knowledge of the Body so that we can never be individualistic but rather, we do all things in fellowship and coordination with the saints, being in the reality of the Body of Christ.
May the Lord have a way to crush and shatter our individualism so that we may have the Body life.
Lord Jesus, grow in us. Grant us to have more growth in life unto maturity today. May we advance with You until we know You as the Body. Oh Lord, shine on us and expose our individualism. Save us from remaining individualists. Save us from living in the self and doing things for the self. Save us from doing things for God without being in the fellowship and coordination in the Body. Oh Lord Jesus, may we no longer be able to serve alone but may we depend on the Body and live in the Body. Bring us into the reality of the Body of Christ. May we truly feel the need for fellowship and coordination in the Body as we live and serve in the church life. Knit us with the saints and cause us to no longer be separated or individualistic. Have Your way, Lord, for the sake of the Body, to crush and shatter our individualism! Amen!
A Proof that we Know the Body is that we can Discern those who are Not in the Body
The second proof that we know the Body is that we have the ability to discern whether others are in the Body or not (1 Cor. 2:15).
This doesn’t mean that we judge or criticise others for still being individualistic and not being in the reality of the Body.
Rather, as we grow in life unto maturity and go on with the Lord in the experience of life, we have an inner sense concerning others, whether they know the Body and live in the Body.
If we come to know the Body, we not only live in the Body in a practical way but also clearly discern whether or not others are living in the Body.
The degree to which we can discern whether others live in the Body or not depends on the degree of our fellowship we have in the Lord.
We need to deepen our fellowship with the Lord. We need to go deeper with the Lord in our fellowship and experience of Him.
We need to advance in our growth in life and in our experience of Christ as life until the self is dealt with, the flesh is set aside, and the natural constitution is not relied on but rather, it is repudiated.
Then, we will spontaneously have a sense concerning others, whether they live in the Body and know the Body.
It is the divine life in us that has advanced in us, grown in us, and saturated us that is giving us an inner sense, a discernment, concerning the other saints.
Then, we can pray for them; we can bring them before the Lord in prayer, for we want them to know the Body and be in the Body in reality.
We will not rush to fellowship with them and tell them they need to do this or that; rather, we will pray.
As we fellowship with others, we will open our heart to them, and just like the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, we will encourage them to be further reconciled to God.
Our very experience and enjoyment of Christ will flow out of us in our fellowship with others, and if they are open, the Lord may have a way to bring them on.
Sometimes, however, we may sense that they are still shallow in their growth in life and they did not experience Christ as life sufficiently, so they cannot advance (Eph. 4:13).
How much we need to pray for one another so that we may grow in life and grant the Lord the cooperation He needs for us to know the Body and be in the reality of the Body!
How much we need to struggle before the Lord on behalf of the saints so that they may grow in life, be reconciled to God, and be brought to the full knowledge of Christ, so that together we may live in the reality of the Body for the Lord to have His corporate expression!
Lord Jesus, may we know You as the Body and in the Body. Advance in us. Cause us to go on with You in the experience of life until our flesh is dealt with, our self is denied, and our natural constitution is repudiated. Amen, Lord, by Your mercy and grace, grant us to advance in the experience of life until we know the Body in reality and we live in the Body. May we be those who have a keen discernment of others whether they live in the Body and are in the Body in reality. May we pray for others and minister life to them so that they may advance with You and know the Body! Amen, Lord, release the prayer and the fellowship in spirit, and release the growth in life of all the saints for the Body! Bring us on with You by much fellowship and prayer!
A Proof that we Know the Body is that we Recognise the Authority of Christ as the Head Revealed in the Order of the Body
The third proof of our knowing the Body is that we recognise authority in the Body.
This doesn’t mean that we see who are the elders or those in authority and we submit to them in an outward way. Rather, the more we grow in life and advance in the experience of life, we recognise the authority of Christ as the Head revealed in the order of the Body (1 Cor. 12:18-20).
God has placed the members in the Body even as He willed, and there is only one Head: Christ.
When we know the Body and live in the reality of the Body, we will sense and know the order in the Body, and we will recognise the authority of Christ.
Actually, knowing the Body and recognising authority are inseparable; those who don’t recognise authority do not know the Body.
What is the authority in the Body? Authority is simply the authority of Christ the Head which is revealed in the order of the Body.
It is the authority of Christ manifested through the order of His Body. We all are members of the Body, and Christ placed us in the Body even as He willed; He placed us in our position and in our order.
If we have been taught in our spirit and have been led by God to recognise the flesh and deal with it, if we have denied the self and have our natural constitution broken, we will immediately recognise our own order when we’re placed among the brothers and sisters.
We will appreciate them and consider them higher than we are, and we will be happy to just serve the saints in the Lord (Rom. 12:3).
Also, we will see and recognise authority, for the authority of Christ is expressed in the order in the Body.
Such authority is not assumed nor is it by election but it is the natural order in life, which Christ the Head has manifested in all the members of His Body.
On the one hand, He has ordained the elders as representatives of His authority, and we see the flowing of God’s authority through the proper eldership.
On the other hand, we will keep the order in the Body by submitting not only to Christ the Head but also to the fellow members in the Body.
We will not think of ourselves higher than we ought to think, and we will not demean other members of the Body which seem to be less seeming than us.
Rather, we will love the Lord, love the saints, and keep the order in the Body, recognising that Christ is the Head and He has placed each one of us in the Body in just the right place and order for the building up of the Body.
We will simply see the natural order in life in the Body of Christ, the order which Christ the Head has manifested in all the members of His Body.
Lord Jesus, thank You for placing us as members in the Body of Christ. Hallelujah, Christ is the Head, and He has placed each member in the Body where He wants them to be and in what order He wants them to be. Amen, Lord, may we see our position and function in the Body. May we not covet others’ function and may we not despise our function. Teach us in our spirit and lead us to recognise the flesh and deal with it, deal with the self by denying it, and let You break our natural constitution so that we may see the Body and recognise the order int he Body! Hallelujah, the authority in the Body is Christ Himself, the Head, and He manifests His authority in the proper order among the members of the Body! Amen, Lord, we submit to Your headship and we love all the brothers and sisters in the Body! Keep us in the Body, knowing the Body and living in the Body!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” ch. 15, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Ministry of the Word and God’s Dispensing for God’s Economy (2026 March ITERO), week 3, “Ministering Life for the Body” – day 4.
- Hymns on this topic:
– I long for fellowship in spirit, / That mingled with the saints I’ll be, / Long to be saved from independence / And to be built with saints in Thee. / I long for fellowship in spirit, / That opened shall my spirit be, / Long to be rescued from seclusion, / And with the saints to worship Thee. (Hymns #847 stanzas 1-2)
– By Thy life and by its flowing / I can grow and be transformed, / With the saints coordinated, / Builded up, to Thee conformed; / Keep the order in the Body, / There to function in Thy will, / Ever serving, helping others, / All Thy purpose to fulfill. (Hymns #840 stanza 2)
– Limit, Lord, my independence, / Let me to Thy Body turn; / Not just seeking light from heaven, / But the church’s sense to learn. / May we be the stones for building / Not the formless, useless clay, / Gain in us Thy heart’s desire / Corporately Thyself display. (Hymns #1225 stanza 4)
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